Wednesday, September 3, 2008

ROMANTIC COMEDY

by Suzanne Welsh

I love to laugh! There have been studies done that suggest laughing will add years to your life. So often when given the choice of movies to watch I will choose a comedy. Espeically a romantic comedy. A girl has to have her Happy Ever After, after all!

Tonight I got to watch one of my favorite movies. BRINGING UP BABY. It's an old black and white movie starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant and a leopard. It has some of the best screwball comedic prat falls and plot turns ever recorded. This is my kind of comedy! Romance with heart, laughter, a little poignant moments to make me go aww...and the HEA.

Another of my favorites is DESK SET, starring Ms. Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Women who read and do research for a newspaper outwit and engineer's pet new computer. (aha! This is a fantasy some days in my own office!) Yep Katherine Hepburn was fantastic at romantic comedies.

There are some modern day actresses who give her a run for her money.

Meg Ryan. A lot of people know of her from WHEN HARRY MET SALLY or SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE My favorite movie starring her is FRENCH KISS. She learns a lot about herself in that movie. Not only does she overcome her fear of flying, she's able to see past her own insecurities to giving up everything for the man she ultimately loves. And who can resist her fist of defiance in front of the Arch De Triumph as she swears, "we shall triumph!" ?

Sandra Bullock. MISS CONGENIALITY was such a great movie and didn't agent Hart learn as much about being a woman as catching the bad guys? WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING has us falling in love with Lucy and a whole cast of quirky characters. TWO WEEKS NOTICE was a sleeper if you ask me. There are some great timed pratfalls in that movie. Timing for that kind of physical comedy has to come naturally. I don't think it can be taught.

Janeane Garofalo. Her sardonic wit really made me love her in THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND DOGS. Not to mention the first ever phone sex scene in a movie! Another movie she did that was just too funny was THE MATCHMAKER. It's a movie that takes place in Ireland! (Have you seen it, Joanie?) Janeane's character is almost a straight man to this town of quirky Irishman.

So, what romantic comedies do y'all like? Who are some of your favorite comediens? I have decided to give away a DVD of WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING to one commentor.

Suz, I also LOVED "While You Were Sleeping" one of my fave movies! Goldie Hawn did some fun romantic comedies back in her day. My favorite was "Overboard" with Kurt Russell. And when I was a kid, I adored Doris Day films!

Oh, and t.hee Natalie on the GR going "wild" on me. DUH! Not if I keep him in my "sight!" Where is Fo when you need a good pun?

Ugh! Who's making so much noise out here? I've got SUCH a headache!!! That darned Lady Kate and Lyle! They've given me the flu - it surely wasn't all the margaritas! I know how to control myself.

Suz, what a fantastic post! I LOVE a good romantic comedy although they've been pretty thin on the ground lately. Have you seen Houseboat with Cary Grant and Sophia Loren? What about How To Steal a Million with Peter O'Toole and Audrey Hepburn?

I love Bringing up Baby. Don't you love the dinosaur bone and the dog? I think that's one of the joys of that movie - every little detail is just right!

Hiya, Suz! I LOVE romantic comedy and I wish there was more quality stuff around. I adored The Truth About Cats and Dogs. Especially because the dog in it was just like my lovely Alex, who is now in doggy heaven. But the phone sex scene was fabbo! I must go and rent The Matchmaker.

Actually, I really like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Those two are just so blond and beautiful but they're great comedic actors, too. Is Princess Bride a romantic comedy? Because that's a favourite too. And I'll watch Sandra Bullock in almost everything. Love her. Great topic! WIsh I was eligible to win:(

Congrats, Loucinda! You beat my answers. I just got done recommending "Overboard" to a friend tonight whose sons have poison ivy, and Pillow Talk and Send Me No Flowers are right up there, too. I own a box set of Doris Day movies.

I love Bridget Jone's, both of them, and Something's Gotta Give with Diane Keaton.

Hi Banditas - sorry its been a while. I've been on deadline and been on 2 more plane trips since SF so things have been wild. Also picked up a really awful lurgy and am currently in my 4th day of laryngitis. Yes, for anyone who knows me, they'll know me and mute just don't work.

Sorry for having missed the party Christine - I got here and there were 184 comments and I still had a proof read to do so I slipped out quietly before anyone saw me...

Anyway - talk about my fav subject. I'm a sucker for a rom com!! Bridget Jones(not # 2, very disappointed in that, except the fight scene which was classic), My Big Fat, Greek Wedding, 4 Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually (not strictly I guess) and yes, there's a bit of a pattern here - the English do this artform very well, I think. Love Raising Helen also (the scene where Joan Cusack bursts into the hotel room and starts her mummy countdown from 10 still has the ability to make me pee my pants).Not sure if I've seen any good ones lately...But a very interesting note about all of these so called comedys - I also cried in them. They're poignant scenes mean just as much to me as their funnny ones.Not sure about Princess Bride Christine but its one of my fav movies of ALL time.

PS Beth - thanks for the book which Anna faithfully delivered. I read it on the plane and it's in my bookshelf with all my other fav's.

Oooh love this topic Suz and so many of my favourites have been mentioned already! Love Desk Set and pretty much anything with Cary Grant in it.

To add to the list of classics - My Favourite Wife and The Awful Truth (Cary with Irene Dunne), Mr Blandings Builds his Dream House (Cary with Myrna) and my all-time faves Charade (Cary with Audrey) and The Philadelphia Story (Cary with Katherine). Love The Thin Man, Perfect Specimen (Errol!), Third Finger, Left Hand (Myrna Loy), Teacher's Pet (Gable and Doris) and It Happened One Night (Clarke and Claudette) too.

Ooooh I love Rom Com! All of the ones you mentioned, Suz, rock. I think Lucille Ball was my all time favorite comedienne, although currently it's Jennifer Aniston. I can't wait to see her upcoming movies.

hmm... others would be How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

If it had Jimmy Stewart or Katherine Hepburn I loved it. My Girl Friday was a great movie, oh and Doris Day movies, love those, oh and Betty Grable, heck I love many old movies. Latest releases? PS I Love You... you just can't go past Gerard Butler in his undies stripping for his wife... ooooh if that was only me... (as the wife, not stripping).I think it's the accent, love the accent.

Congrats Aunty Cindy have fun with him. Great pun Anna The Wild Site love it

Suz love these movies Bringing Up Baby is one of my favourites as well I haven't seen it for years and I love all the ones you have mentioned.A couple of my all time favourites are Paleface with Rossiland Russell and Bob Hope and The Long Long Trailer with Lucille Ball and Dezi Arnez those two crack me up everytime I watch them and all of my kids love them as well.

I think I have seen every movie you listed and loved them all! My favorite comedians are Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (especially together), Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant (together or apart) and Robin Williams and Billy Crystal (again, together or apart). It's hard to decide which is my favorite movie, though, because I love them all. You've Got Mail and Miss Congeniality were pretty funny.

I say the world can't have enough romantic comedies. I'm always on the look out for a good one. I really loved The Holiday with Jude Law, Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet. And of course the kiss between Renne and Colin at the end of Bridget Jones' Diary can't be beat.

Wow, talk about While you were sleeping....... While I am sleeping there is a whole slew of people up and commenting!Congrats Aunty Cindy, keep that chook in line today.Romantic comedies are my all time fav as far as movies go, I am not much of a TV watcher but I love movies. I love Miss Congeniality. Just that one line when she comes out from her "makeover" makes the whole movie worthwhile to me. LOL Kind of like the t-shirt I saw once, I have PMS and I am armed....

Suz - Great Topic! Makes me want to ren to Blockbuster to buy some of these for those days when you need a smile.

Most of my favs have been mentioned. AC - Love those old Doris Day movies. Amy, Love Actually is one of my favorites, esp. because it mixes the laughs with the serious stuff. French Kiss- OoLaLa. My Big Fat Greek Wedding was hilarious. While you were Sleeping is an all time fav. My addition to the list: Pretty Woman.

Many of mine have been mentioned too. I ADORE Lucille Ball and thought I was the only one who knew AND appreciated "The Long, Long Trailer" My favorite part is when the trailer park people think she's sprained her ankle and they slip her a "mickey" knocking her out.

And Suz, DESK SET!!!!!! Again, I thought I was the only one who knew about it. (None of my KY friends know about it). Spencer Tracy was a perfect foil for modern day business woman Katherine Hepburn.

What I also liked about that movie was the cool way EVERYONE dressed to the nines to go to work. I adore 1950's fashion.

Not only "Operation Petticoat" but Cary in "Father Goose".

I will say, that as much as I enjoyed "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" I never thought of it as a ROMANTIC comedy. More like a comedy with a romantic element.

Hey Anna, another Bringing Up Baby, fan, huh? I love the scene in the nightclub where he steps on her dress, then it pulls off her, and he has to "spoon-walk" her right across the floor! OMG...too funny.

My all time Audrey Hepburn movie is the musical comedy My Fair Lady. Her at the Ascot race, yelling, "move yer bloody arse" is just priceless!

Hey Carol! You know, I haven't seen any of the three you mentioned. I did hear they were all good, especially 27 Dresses. hmmmmmmmmmm perhaps I need to make a run to Best Buy today. With the remnants of hurricaine Gustav soaking Dallas, it might be time to have my own movie marathon!

Hey Amy, sorry you're under the weather, but glad you're out from under the deadline!

My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Sigh, wasn't that good?

Do you know I just saw it for the first time the other day? Yep! Both my girls saw it when it came out and said, "Mom, you're gonna love this one." But it took me until last month to actually watch it. And I love John Corbet. Fell in love with him on Northern Exposure!

Oh Anna S....isn't Cary just yummy? Is there a modern day actor to compare to him? I think not! The accent, the pratfalls, the smile....mmmmmmmmmm! And I do love him in operation petticoat. He's just too yummo!

I watched Bringing Up Baby the other night too. The really cool part is getting to show these movies to my daughter (9 yr) for the first time. She loves old movies, thank goodness. I love that scene where Susan (Hepburn) talks her way out of the jail cell. She's so great in that kind of scene.

Romantic Comedies are my favorites. Well, right with period pieces. But I love the really angsty stuff like Hope Floats. Or Moulin Rouge which is more a Musical Dramedy.

I love The Truth About Cats and Dogs. Sweet Home Alabama gets me every time. Oh, and for old movies, you can't beat anything with Irene Dunn. Put her and Cary together and it's perfection!

There is an old black and white romantic movie called Seven Days Leave, about two men on sevens days leave from the military. It has Sherley Temple(all grown up) and Lucile Ball in it, it is a musical, and so funny. I also love My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I went with my mother and law and when we got out of the theater she turn to me and "Kind of reminds you of the family you married into." Which is so true my husband family in ways is alot like that movie. Thanks for the great post.

Talk about a sleeper! I LOVED The Matchmaker and can count on one hand the number of romance loving women who've seen it. The scene in the pub where the guys are singing to her? I laughed until I cried.

Shocking endorsement: What Happens in Vegas. I thought I would hate it. I didn't. It charmed me. I truly believed that the characters would live HEA.

"I'm With Lucy". A wonderful little movie starring Monica Potter (who always reminds me of a younger, blonder Julia Roberts) who gets dumped by her boyfriend at the beginning of the film. The rest of the movie goes from flashback to flashback over the course of a year, following dates the heroine had leading up to the present when she is set to marry one of those men. Absolutely charmed me (and it didn't hurt that Gael Garcia Bernal and David Borneaz were two of those men).

Oh, I also love Head Over Heels with Freddie Prinze Jr. And also Romancing the Bride with Laura Prepon (the girl from That 70s Show)--and she's with a complete hottie who I have no idea who he is, but that's okay...*LOL*

I'm a big Ginger Rogers fan, so I love all her comedies with Fred Astaire. Such as "Top Hat" and "Gay Divorcee." I also loved "The Major and the Minor," which she costarred with Ray Milland. Ginger pretends to be a 12 year old girl so she can pay a lesser price for a train ticket. "There's Something About Mary" and "You've Got Mail" are also some of my favorites.

Well, Suzanne, since one of the actors calls himself Yahoo Serious, you better not expect any kind of historical acuracy in Young Einstein! Check out the trailer, that might give you an idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEL_BT_Z6YgI think he was also in a movie that was about a guy called Ned Kelly.

LOVE While You Were Sleeping. We own that one--I think it's on VHS though :0/ We've about worn that thing out.

I like Practical Magic as well--it's one of my favorite "watch it over and over" films.

Romantic comedy is the healer of tired souls. Those who can write it well--I bow down to those people. Those with the comedic timing to play it on stage or in film--well--I don't have that and don't understand it, but I surely do appreciate anybody who can make me laugh so hard I about pee my pants.

Laughter IS good medicine I think, and any more I don't laugh nearly as much as I'd like. Sometimes I think I've about forgotten how. My husband will put on some awful movie and even if I'm not watching, just the SOUNDS of the screaming and horrible things drives me insane. I've actually put in earplugs and gone to the other side of the house to escape it before. On the other hand, when I'm feeling really down, it's such a relief to sit down and watch something I know is guaranteed to make me laugh and feel good--make me forget whatever is happening around me that's difficult or unpleasant.

Romantic Comedy is a gift from God to the weary soul. Suz, thanks for the nudge. A friend loaned me How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days last week, and I haven't watched it yet. I think tonight's the night, if I can get some pages cranked out.

Ooh, romantic comedy! Movies I actually don't have to watch from between my fingers (unlike those too-scary sci-fi or suspense movies--eek!) Lots of favorites... like Christine, I do so enjoy The Princess Bride!

Hey Crystal! I haven't gotten to see Failure To Launch yet, although I want to see Terry Brandshaw as the dad. As a Cleveland Browns fan from waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back, I haven't always appreciated Terry...(he was a Steeler for heaven's sake!) but since he's been a sports anchor I really like his humorous side.

I'm a Jimmy Stewart drama fan more than his comedies. The Philedelphia Story was great with him Cary and Katherine. But for me if I want to watch Jimmy I love him in How The West Was Won and Rear Window!

Hey Nancy! I love the scene on the yacht where Sandra Bullock's charachter has the life jacket on over her dress, but is getting so drunk she can't go down the stairs without half falling off the ship! Bullock's physical comedy in that scene was fantastic! The movie should've done better in the box office!

p226...my husband disappears to mow the lawn or his computer when my daughters and I have romantic comedy night, too! You will survive them, I promise...although if OFFICE SPACE or PRINCESS BRIDE come on, he insists I watch them!

Haven't had time to read the posts,has anyone mentioned Philadelphia Story? Love anything Katherine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant,Spencer Tracy from the early days. Their comedies were unbeatable! Somany of their ilk who are now gone!Thank goodness their works have beensaved for the future!

Hey Jane! Ginger Rodgers was very funny and her sarcastic wit often flew over my head as a kid and now I get those little side comments she used to make! :) And the woman was a hell of a dancer, wasn't she? She had to do everything Fred did, ONLY backwards! And I loved The Major and The Minor, too!

hey Cassondra! Laughter is so good for us, even in some stressful situations I've been known to find something funny. Most have to do with other people's reactions to stress...but even taking the time to watch a movie where you know the funny lines can be relaxing...Like O' Brother Where Art Thou? It's not a romantic comedy, but the whole "We thought you was a frog" gets me every time!

Oh, Suz, I ADORE Baby Boom. It's one I've watched over and over and as you say, while it isn't strictly a romantic comedy, it has a lovely romance in it. I also wanted to say I agree with you and everybody else who singled French Kiss out as an exceptional film. Fantastic character development in that - for both of them! This has been such fun today. Been great to visit the lighter side!

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